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Pre-season Tournament 2018-19
July 2018 preview Accepted invitation to participate in the European International Cup in Germany. Making an immediate return for the young German Sascha Krause, Yeovil Town share a group with Hamilton Academical (Scotland), FK Haugesund (Norway) and Carl Zeiss Jena (Germany). Although the summer transfer window is open, the club announced that due to the poor financial situation, fans should not expect any signings to arrive. During this month, Yeovil Town F.C recorded the following results Group Stage: MD1 Haugesund Post-match Interview "Great way to start my managerial career! Arquin's 4' minute half volley was a tremendous marker for intent as it shows people we're not here to play around. Although we were lucky to not concede 2 goals ourselves, we have enough to here to build on for the rest of the tournament." Group Stage: MD2 Carl Zeiss Jena Post-match Interview "It was an interesting game as they defended very well and managed to score first. Naturally, you begin to wonder how the team will respond. But equalising before half time gave us that edge we needed, we tightened up in the second half and managed to exploit the spaces in their team very well." Group Stage: MD3 Hamilton Post-match Interview "Well, it's not the result we wanted, but in context, it didn't matter. This was a second string team with inexperience all over the park. I mean, we had 4 players under the age of 20! Hamilton held their lead very well and gave us no space to find a player through the middle or through crosses. We'll work on that, but we head into to Semi-Finals against Fortuna Köln--a team I enjoyed playing against during my time in the lower divisions of the Bundesliga!" Semi-Final Fortuna Köln Post-match Interview "This was actually a much better performance than it looks on paper! We really carved them open and our wing exploits finally paid off as Fortuna pushed their wingbacks high. Fisher scoring a header at the back post from a deep cross was a joy to watch. His inability to finish three other easier chances... less so." Final Energie Cottbus Post-match Interview "The perfect outcome! More than I could have hoped for! Granted, their two goals came through 2 defensive errors, but we kept calm and we fed the Fish! What an absolutely stunning way to seal the cup. It was a brilliant lobbed ball into the box by Santos, but the audaciousness from Fisher to pull off a perfectly executed bicycle kick was something else. Incredibly proud of the team and I can't wait to get on with the season!" YeoLaTengo Monthly Review "Although it was only pre-season, results and performances matter as a means to build confidence ahead of the season. New manager, the same squad that has followed on from the previous regime yet it's like a brand new squad with new energy. The Manager has reverted to simple tactics; using a 4-4-2 for each fixture of our pre-season campaign. With our abundance of talented forwards at the club, it makes sense to exploit the options available by fielding two strikers at one time. We did witness a certain weakness defensively, with the midfield often being bypassed with ease. Yet when instructed to sit deep and break with pace, the team displayed great enthusiasm to shut out any attacks yet get up the field in seconds. No fewer than four goals came from counter attacks and this is certainly something we can expect to see more off during our league campaign. A lot of our players came away from Germany with renewed vigour. A. Fisher, in particular, stood out as a player prepared to have a big season for the club. Ending the tournament as joint top scorer (4 goals) and the most assists (3), he not only scored the 2 vital goals that saw us win the tournament, but picked up the official MVP award too. There's a pressure on him to provide consistent goals for the club, which no doubt he will. But he knows that poor form could result in being replaced by veteran F. Zoko, who was equally as impressed in the minutes he played. R. Browne showed great energy too. Using his electrifying pace, he repeatedly exploited the space behind fullbacks and picked up a number of assists and goals. There's no question that his physical assets could potentially result in becoming a key player for the team as well as a match winner. Final shoutout goes to O. Sowunmi. For a big lad, he can certainly get around the pitch. Club Captain for the season, he'll need to step up and ensure the team don't throw away too many goals this year." Expected First XI for the season: GK: N. Baxter RB: T. James CB: O. Sowunmi CB: B. Mugabi LB: C. Dickinson RM: A. Dobre DM: S. D'Almeida DM: J. Gray LM: R. Browne ST: A. Fisher ST: Y. Arquin YeoLaTengo Player of the Month "There is only one clear winner this month, and that's A. Fisher. Despite some sloppy chances wasted (pre-season after all) he leads the line fantastically well. Two great headers and a perfectly executed bicycle kick perfectly captures his aerial prowess and is hopefully an indicator of things to come!"